When the Ohio Department of Education dug into the attendance reporting of Provost Academy Ohio,
a small, Columbus-based online charter school, it found that the school was being paid far more
than it should have received based on the actual time students spent logged into school-related
activities.

By the time the review was finished, instead of the 162 students that Provost was reporting for
the 2014-15 school year, the state counted the equivalent of 35 full-time students. The school had
received about $1 million in state funding, but it was found to have been overpaid by $799,492. The
two sides are finalizing a settlement.

“This isn’t one of those cases where you missed one, two, or even five students, and you say ‘
OK, a mistake was made,’ but to this extent — this is criminal,” said Tom Gunlock, Ohio Board of
Education president.

Gunlock said charter-school sponsors are responsible for ensuring that their schools are
following the rules. The contract between Provost Academy and its sponsor, the Ohio Council of
Community Schools, includes attendance requirements.

“All you have to do is do what you say you’re capable of doing. It’s not that hard,” Gunlock
said. “Authorizers need to do their job.”

The Ohio Council of Community Schools was established by the University of Toledo board of
trustees and sponsors 48 schools, including four online schools.

Lenny Schafer, executive director of the council, said his organization has moved quickly ensure
repayment of the tax dollars, with $150,000 returned so far. “We don’t believe in ducking and
running,” he said.

Schafer said Provost had 162 students enrolled but no documentation that most had fulfilled
minimum hour requirements.

Representatives of Provost Academy did not return messages seeking comment.

Some wonder what would happen if the same scrutiny was applied to online charter schools that
are five to 90 times larger than Provost. As lawmakers crafted new charter-school reforms,
questions arose about the accuracy of e-school attendance.

“If you had the same situation going on with these larger e-schools, then God knows how many are
actually participating in the curriculum,” said Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, D-Boardman. “
That is information we need to figure out immediately.”

After the discovery of Provost’s attendance situation, the Department of Education revised its
FTE (full-time equivalency) Review handbook, which guides how charter-school attendance reviews are
conducted. The new version, released in late January, spelled out more explicitly that reviewers
are to request computer logs that track student attendance.

It “better articulated the current practice. It didn’t change the practice in any way,” said Kim
Norris, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Education.

“We’ve always had the ability to pull records for these audits that happen every five years, and
we intend to do that going forward. We used it with Provost, and we intend to use it going forward.
House Bill 2 (recently enacted charter-school reforms) only helps further support this effort.”

But some online charter schools expressed sharp opposition to the new 2016 handbook, concerned
that it was dropped by surprise in the middle of the school year. Nearly two weeks ago, some
e-school representatives met with the Department of Education and some legislative representatives,
and the department agreed to go back to the 2015 manual.

“Some of those changes would be very difficult to put into place now or in the future,” said
Marie Hanna, superintendent of Ohio Connections Academy in Columbus, which was part of the meeting.
“We look forward to working with the department to resolve those issues.”

Hanna would not say specifically what would cause problems for e-schools. “We all want to be
accountable. We just need to find a way to meet their requirements within the systems that exist
now.”

Reverting to the 2015 handbook, Norris said, does not impede the department from taking close
looks at e-school attendance records this year.

Schiavoni and others see it as no coincidence that as the department prepares a closer look at
e-school enrollment, an attendance amendment was floated recently in the Ohio House, reportedly
crafted by the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT). Under the proposal, online schools would be
required only to offer 920 hours of instruction; students would not actually have to participate in
those hours.

That amendment, which has been criticized by some charter-school supporters, also sought to
delay until the 2017-18 school year requirements that online schools keep an “accurate record of
each individual student’s participation in learning opportunities each day.”

A spokesman for House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, said no decision has been made
about backing the amendment.

Ohio e-schools are expected to collect about $275 million in state funding this year to educate
more than 39,000 students. Two-thirds of that money goes to ECOT and the Ohio Virtual Academy.

Charter schools go through a scheduled attendance review every five years to verify enrollment
data that is used as a basis for state funding. ECOT is among those up for review this year.

In the past, it does not appear that such reviews have resulted in major findings. But when a
Department of Education reviewer found red flags with Provost, he asked for specific documentation
of student log-ins. Schools also can track non-classroom hours that count toward the minimum.

That uncovered a number of students who fell far short of the state-minimum required 920 hours
of learning, causing the state to ask for about 80 percent of the school’s money back.

Problems with Provost Academy’s attendance dated to June 2014, when the state auditor’s office
did its initial regular audit of the school and found problems with four of the five student files
that were sampled.

According to its five-year forecast, Provost will repay the state up to $850,000 in “overfunded
foundation payments” over the next three years.

As a result, the school’s operator, EdisonLearning, needs to contribute to operations or defer
management fees during these years, the report said. The management company is paid $250,000 a year
to handle administrative and other duties.

The Ohio Council of Community Schools is paid 3 percent of the school’s state aid for a
sponsorship fee. The report does not mention deferring or waiving sponsorship fees.